The influence of organizational factors on innovation and creativity in US and Japanese high technology firms

摘要

This paper discusses several organizational factors that influence creativity and innovation in a technical organization. Research suggests that US engineers are more creative in the basic sciences but less productive in the process areas. Japanese R&D engineers appear to be less productive in basic science research, but more creative in research areas related to process control. The influence of group processes, the need to upgrade technical skills and organizational structure help to explain these differences.